Document Type
Book
Publication Date
1991
Abstract
Recounting his adventures on an unknown continent, Cabeza de Vaca passes on a story he heard in an Indian village:
They said that a little man wandered through the region whom they called Badthing [Mala Cosa]. He had a beard and they never saw his features distinctly. When he came to a house, the inhabitants trembled and their hair stood on end. A blazing brand would suddenly shine at the door as he rushed in and seized whom he chose, deeply gashing him in the side with a very sharp flint two palms long and a hand wide. He would thrust his hand through the gashes, draw out the entrails, cut a palm's length from one, and throw it on the embers. Then he would gash an arm three times, the second cut on the inside of the elbow, and would sever the limb. A little later he would begin to rejoin it, and the touch of his hands would instantly heal the wounds. (90)
A chilling or preposterous tale, depending on one's viewpoint, but in any case a colorful one.
Recommended Citation
Wild, Peter. Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. Boise, ID: Boise State University, 1991. Digital. Western Writers Series, 101.